I want to Learn to Pray

Shortly after I arrived at the Cathedral, a man walked in one day and asked to see a priest. He told me a tragic story of loss and disappointment. He had made one bad decision after another.

He had lost his family he had lost his job; he had come close to losing his sanity. He wanted to find God again. He wanted to learn how to pray. “Will you teach me how to pray?” he asked. “I would be honored,”I replied.

I began to tell him about the different kinds of prayer: petition, adoration, confession, oblation, and intercession. I told him about the daily Office: Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline. I told him about centering prayer, meditation, and other ways of praying without words.

The more I talked, the more overwhelmed he looked. The energy drained from his eyes. His face actually fell. “Oh,” he said. “I was thinking more about… well…may be in the Morning to say ‘thank you ’and then again at night to say ‘I’m sorry’.”